In this edition of UnifiEd’s School Board Watch Blog, we will take a look at the agenda for the November 17th regularly scheduled session of the Hamilton County School Board Meeting. The meeting will be held in the Hamilton County School Board Meeting Room at 3074 Hickory Valley Road and is set to begin at 5:30 PM. We will live tweet @UnifiEdHC, follow along at #HCSchools.

First Reading of Board Policy 5.305 – Family and Medical Leave: Provisions are being added to the Family and Medical Leave policy that states an employee may submit any form of medical documentation to Human Resources to have leave authorized under FMLA. In addition, the School District is able to designate leave as FMLA under their discretion if they feel adequate medical documentation or information was provided to the District. This policy change provides an important area of clarification for the system regarding medical documentation.

Field Trips

CSAS Upper and Hixson High School will participate in band and orchestra related field trips.

Brainerd High School, Hixson High School, Signal Mountain Middle High School, Central High School, East Hamilton School, Red Bank High School, and Sale Creek Middle High will participate in sports related field trips.

CSLA will participate in a travel related field trip.

Hixson High will participate in a college and leadership related field trip.

Signal Mountain Middle High School, Lookout Valley Middle High School, and Sale Creek High will participate in Model UN or Youth in Government related field trips.

East Ridge High School, Ooltewah High School, and Sequoyah High School will participate in competitive Hot Rodding and JROTC related field trips.

Brown Middle School will participate in an American government related field trip.

Bids:

Approval sought to purchase restroom panels for Washington Alternative School in the amount of $15,665 from Service Systems.

Approval sought for Brainerd High School to contract with Reading Plus for a total of $2,166 from their Title I budget.

Approval sought for Sequoyah High School to contract with Reading Plus for a total of $5,500 from their Title I budget.

Approval sought to amend contract with Stellar Therapy Services, LLC for nursing services reimbursement for HCDE. The reimbursement is for Medicaid eligible students through Stellar Therapy.

Conferences and Consultants:

Approval sought from the Principal at Orchard Knob Elementary for the consultant agreement with Jessica Kaminski for a total of $9,600.00 from the iZone Federal budget. The consultancy will work on professional development for teachers aimed at increasing student achievement in literacy.

Financial Report

Presentation of the monthly financial report comparing actual year-to-date expenditures to the original adopted budget and the year-to-date amended budget from up to September 2016.

Budget Amendments

The following budget amendments for Self-Funded Programs for FY2017 are recommended for School Board approval:

Therapy Services Self-Funded Program, with a net increase of $300,000

Character Education Self-Funded Program, with a net increase of $26,482

Photography Self-Funded Program, totaling $400,000

Ochs-Oakes Self-Funded Program, totaling $2,250

First Reading of Board Policy

Board Policy 5.305 – Family and Medical Leave: Provisions are being added to the Family and Medical Leave policy that states an employee may submit any form of medical documentation to Human Resources to have leave authorized under FMLA. In addition, the School District is able to designate leave as FMLA under their discretion if they feel adequate medical documentation or information was provided to the District. This policy change provides an important area of clarification for the system regarding medical documentation.

Administrative and Business Matters

Dr. Lee McDade will recommend the approval of the 2016-2017 Local Education Agency (LEA) Compliance Report. The TN Department of Education requires that local school boards certify that they are in compliance with TN and State Board of Education rules and regulations. The compliance report was reviewed by HCDE staff.

Justin Witt will address the school board to recommend approval of a request by Crown Castle to extend our current lease agreements for cell towers at Orchard Knob Middle School, CCA, and Central High School. The current agreement regarding cell towers will expire in 2023 and the base rental fee is $1,064.00. After discussing different options HCDE mutually agreed to extend the lease to 2043 with a new base rental fee of $1,500.00. The new rate will increase by 2% annually.

Important Dates and Events

December 8th, 2016: Board Agenda Work Session at 5:00pm in the Board Room

December 15th, 2016: Quarterly Session Board Meeting at 5:00pm in the Board Room

UnifiEd is a new kind of community movement, taking bold action to ensure a brilliant future for every student, teacher, and public school in Chattanooga. UnifiEd’s Student Voice Team brings students from different backgrounds together to raise student voice and start the change in their schools.

As a school organizer, you would be responsible for working with students from across Hamilton County to advocate for the changes your peers want to see in their schools. The job requires the studnet organizer to work up to 20 hours a month with flexible scheduling. We hope you will join us!